Shaquille O’Neal: how one of the best basketball players in history stays in shape

Shaquille O’Neal body measurements:

Waist: 48” (122 cm)

Chest: 57” (145 cm)

Biceps: 20” (51 cm)

Shoe size: 22 (US)

Hair color: Bald

Eye color: Dark brown

On the parquet, Shaquille O’Neal always seemed huge even by the standards of basketball, but in reality he is even bigger than you might have thought – with the growth of 216 centimeters Shaquille weighs about 150 kilograms.

It is difficult to imagine how much he needed to eat a day given that during a little training he burned about 1,000 calories.

The basis of his diet was always chicken and salmon, and the main weakness – sandwiches with turkey: on training days, he could eat up to 8 of them. A standard snack for Shaquille was a scramble of 12 eggs.

In addition to his favorite sandwiches, Shaq does not cook anything for himself – this is always done by his sisters or mother, who lives around the corner, as well as a cook who has been working with a basketball player for many years.

In childhood, after each game, Shaquille’s mother cooked his favorite macaroni and cheese. With age, he, of course, began to control his diet, but he still cannot deny himself this dish, the recipe of which was invented by his great-grandmother.

Within a few months after the end of his 19-year career in the NBA, Shaquille felt difficulty with accustoming to a new way of life – he stopped controlling his food, left training and, naturally, gained weight.

All problems with excess weight Shaq associated with a slow metabolism. During the performance in the NBA, his diet was about 5,000 calories per day, which was logical with his parameters and physical activity. But as soon as intensive training disappeared, the same amount of calories led to weight gain.

But after he was invited to be a TV presenter and a commentator at the sports channel, Shaquille started looking after himself, stopped eating bread and switched mainly to protein nutrition.

Now, for breakfast Shaquille usually eats a protein omelet and drinks a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. By the way, he claims that he never tried coffee in his entire life.

O’Neal follows a protein diet and trains 2 times a day. He chooses for himself those exercises that help maintain shape and burn calories, only in order to have his favorite sandwiches and macaroni with cheese.